we need to pass through Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the river Jordan – for the new creation!

There is a story in the Old Testament about Elijah the prophet and his disciple/continuation, Elisha.

In 2 Kings 2:1-15, we see that Elijah was about to be raptured, so he told Elisha to stay in that place where they were because God called him to go to Gilgal.

Elisha said, “As Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, I will never leave you” – so he joined him on his trip to Gilgal. The same thing happened again: God called Elijah to go to Bethel, then Jericho, then to cross the river Jordan.

Eventually, after he passed through the river(by wrapping up his mantle and dividing the waters, then passing through as on dry ground), God raptured Elijah.

Elijah is a type of the Old Testament age, and Elisha, of the New Testament age. All these four stations Elijah visited are very significant – and praise the Lord for the ministry of the age which opens up the Word of God for us to understand, enjoy, pray over, and enter into its reality!

The first thing that is striking about Elijah and Elisha is that Elisha did not “start his own ministry” but continued Elijah’s ministry. The same thing took place with the Lord Jesus – He didn’t start “His own ministry”; rather, He entered into John the Baptist’s ministry and then continued with His ministry.

Also, just as it happened with Elisha, so it is with us – if we wish to be filled with the outpoured Spirit and if we want to be raptured, we also need to pass through these four stations.

• Gilgal – is the place where all the young generation from the people of Israel, who were born in the wilderness, were circumcised(since they have not been circumcised). It signifies the fact that we the people of God need to deal with our flesh! What is the flesh? It is simply the uttermost expression of the entire fallen tripartite being. That which is born of the flesh is flesh – the flesh is everything we have received by birth. Not just the negative things or the unpleasant aspects of our disposition and our being – but even our natural kindness, our talent, our energy, our strength, our wisdom, our ability, etc – all these things need to be dealt with by the cross, so that we may be ushered into the New Testament age in our experience – so that we may be in the new creation in full! Daily, we need the constant application of the cross through the Spirit in our experience. By the Spirit, we put to death the practices of the body. Even more – in Phil 3:3 we see that WE ARE THE CIRCUMCISION, we are those who have cut off our flesh, who have no confidence in the flesh! Amen, Lord, make me a part of THE CIRCUMCISION, the one who serves by the Spirit of God, who boasts in Christ Jesus, and has no confidence in the flesh!
• Bethel – is the place where God appeared to Abraham and he built an altar, signifying the absolute consecration to God and intimate communion and fellowship with God. As a response to God’s appearing and His infusion, we consecrate ourselves to the Lord. After he did this, Abraham called on the name of Jehovah! We need God’s appearing, we need to build an altar in our experience (we need to consecrate ourselves and put everything on the altar), and we need to call on the name of the Lord! This is the life of Bethel – living in continual fellowship with God, even an intimate fellowship and communion with the Lord, and in a fresh consecration every day for His purpose! As in Abraham’s case, even though he backslid and went places afar from God (like Egypt), he returned to Bethel… though we may “go down to Egypt”, though we may backslide in the world or in situations/issues, we can return to this intimate fellowship with the Lord and in consecration to Him!
• Jericho – signifies God’s enemy, Satan, and it means “curse”(see Joshua 6). We don’t wrestle and fight against flesh and blood but against the spiritual evil forces in the heaven lies (Eph. 5:12). As we stand with the Lord, eventually the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet shortly (Rom. 16:12). We fight the battle in the Body by denying ourselves and taking the way of one accord – and God crushes Satan under our feet!
• Jordan – signifies death. The Lord Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist – He fulfilled all righteousness by entering into the ministry of that age(which was John’s ministry) so that He could carry on His ministry of the age. When the Lord was baptised, declaring to the whole universe that as a man in the flesh He was good for nothing but death and burial, the heavens were open, the Spirit descended, and the Father spoke a word of acknowledgement! It is the same with us today – we need to live a life in the reality of our baptism, overcoming death by the power of resurrection! When we deny ourselves and live by the divine life, we have the heavens open to us, we have the Spirit descending upon us, and the Father speaks to us and through us, confirming to all that we are His sent one!

Amen! What a rich significance of these four stations!

For us to be fully transferred from the old creation into the new creation, to be fully in the New Testament and out of the Old Testament, we need to go through these stations and experience them daily.

We need to deal with the flesh by the Spirit of life, we need to give up the world and turn to God by the love of the Father, we need to defeat Satan through the Word of the Son, and we need to pass through death to die to our self by the power of resurrection for the Body of Christ! All these experiences are related to the Triune God and the Body of Christ! [enjoyment from the speaking in the video training on the Crystallization-Study of Isaiah(2), message 2 – Living in the Reality of the New Creation]

Amen, Lord, bring us all the way through these experiences daily! We want to be taken fully out of the old creation and into the new creation! Lord, thank You for continually exposing us and speaking to us – bring us on! Make us those who deal with our flesh by the Spirit of life! We want to be those who give up the world and turn to You by loving You more than anything else! Lord, thank You for Your word through which we can defeat Satan! Lord, we believe in Your Word and we want to be filled with the Word so that we may speak it forth! O, Lord, what about our self? Shine on us that we may see our self and deny our self – die to the self – by the power of the resurrection! May we deny our self for the Body of Christ! Lord, Amen, gain us more to be fully in the new creation! Make all these matters our reality!